4. Soil/structure interaction macro-element

4.1 Introduction

Recent developments in the analysis of the seismic response of civil engineering structures have shown that taking into account Soil-Structure Interactions (SSI) is of prime importance for a satisfactory prediction of the loads and displacements actually experienced by the structure during an earthquake.

In the context of performance-based dimensioning, the main aim of taking into account SSI-related phenomena is to obtain a better estimate of overall displacements and internal forces, in order to design more accurately.

The 4 main aspects of ISS can be summarized by the figure